For Ag Retailers, Data’s Massive Opportunities Are Yours to Win or Lose

For Ag Retailers, Data’s Massive Opportunities Are Yours to Win or Lose

For ag retailers, 2022 looks much like 2021– or possibly worse: price hikes on pretty much everything, labor shortage, supply chain issues, and La Niña, now forecast to last through winter of 2022.

One bright spot for retailers is a crop not subject to razor-thin margins and commoditized pricing. Revenue from data does not end at harvest time. In fact, the value of data is unlimited and multifold, as it can be shared with multiple parties, sold over and over, and compounded each time new data is added, once it’s interoperable.

“Interoperable data is that which can be shared and exported in nonproprietary formats,” explained Bradford Warner, VP of Business Development at Farmobile. “Because it’s not specific to any type of vehicle or any one party, it can fulfill multiple uses across multiple partners. The benefit of interoperability has huge financial implications for retailers and growers.”

Who stands to benefit from the new world of data?

As trusted advisors, retailers who understand how to help growers increase the value of each acre can get a leg up on competitors. Retailers who take a wait and see attitude risk losing business for their growers and themselves, and that never ends well.

There are signs that retailers sitting on the sidelines may be losing ground in the data stampede. In an industry survey earlier this year, growers were asked who they consider trusted advisers when it came to technology and data. Retailers ranked third after equipment dealers and agronomic consultants.

The CropLife 100 Report out this month includes a look at retailers’ attitudes toward technology. Preliminary responses show that 44% see digital offerings by competitors as very disruptive to their precision offerings; 62% view e-commerce platforms as a future threat to their business.

Be prepared for a world of interoperable data

Harvesting data is already paying off for growers and advisors who have tested the waters. Working with retailers and growers, Farmobile is collecting live machine and agronomic data at field and fleet levels. One of the real-time benefits is viewing and documenting — in real-time — the amount of time individual machines vs. a full fleet sit idle. The results have enabled ag retailers, in particular, to increase efficiencies and cover more as-applied acres on behalf of growers while using fewer machines for significant savings – and data they own.

Data must be collected before it can be used. Data on that “as applied” map will not be available to retailers to leverage unless it is stored, tracked and shared to show “what was done when” for their thousands of growers and millions of acres.

The same applies to the data layers that growers and advisors will need (like planting, harvest, tillage, as-applied, etc.) to verify conservation practices, measure carbon sequestration, and create traceability through the food supply chain.

Found money

Have you ever put on a jacket you haven’t worn in a while and found a $10 bill? That’s money you didn’t know you had. Now multiply that by thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and that’s what data can deliver once it’s collected and can flow between systems.

“Interoperable data adds dimension to a field and grower for anyone with the foresight to realize what’s possible when data from different systems used for different purposes can be layered on top of each other,” said Skyward Apps CEO Kat Crawford. “Suddenly you can see the world in three dimensions whereas it has been flat before.”

Data is no longer a byproduct of agriculture. It is the product itself. For retailers and coops who have data that can’t be shared or exchanged because it’s stored in systems that can’t connect, now is the time to develop a plan.

Data not collected is data lost. There are no do-overs.

“You can’t recreate what doesn’t exist and people have tried, at a very high price, said Warner. “Start now, don’t wait to get a good system of collection going even if it’s a bit of added cost. I think the odds are high that the ROI will pay off quickly.”

You can’t make money if you’re losing money to errors.

Connecting applications can be a tricky business. A million things can go wrong if the process is not led by a software architect and team of engineers steeped in the complexities of the agriculture supply chain.

“Boundary data in one system not reconciled with boundary data in another system leads to botched seed purchases where growers are left without enough seeds to plant,” said Nick Elliott, Skyward’s CTO. “Source data that is inaccurate or not documented can lead to inconsistencies, duplicate data and replicated work when not integrated right.”

Understanding how data will shape farm decisions will take on more importance as voluminous data is added and integrated for conservation, sustainability and traceability.

“Skyward is a veteran firm that is able to look at the needs to both push and pull information, and we see that need as becoming the fulcrum point,” said Warner.

Make 2022 the springboard for growth

Gone are the days when retailers could compete on selling seeds, equipment and crop protection products. Data is the linchpin that will sustain every part of agribusiness. Ag retailers have an opportunity and obligation to help their growers adapt and compete.

A data strategy starts by asking questions and taking inventory: what’s collected, what’s not, where it’s stored and where are the missed opportunities.

Skyward Apps and Farmobile are partnering to offer help to qualified retailers and coops, at no cost, to assess their existing technologies.

Click here to request a complementary Data Assessment.

As independent data specialists with decades of agtech experience, Farmobile and Skyward Apps will identify the best opportunities to “grow with the flow”. This is a process, not a sprint, and a manageable step forward to start the new year.

Skyward Apps is an ag technology firm that helps ag retailers, co-ops, manufacturers and data service providers build their digital capacity and early market advantage. Based in Columbia, MD, we create exceptional software, make technologies work together, and facilitate coordination across dispersed engineering teams to expedite delivery of large digital projects. For more information on our clients and experience, see our case studies, and read our blog on The Digital Frontlines .

Farmobile LLC is a subsidiary of AGI (Ag Growth International) and builds foundational data technology to solve the industry’s greatest challenges from farm and field to across the ag-food supply chain. Based in Leawood, KS, Farmobile specializes in automatically collecting and standardizing second-by-second agronomic and machine data points across agricultural equipment and field activities. The Farmobile DataEngineSM platform transforms raw data into its own unique, visual Electronic Field Records (EFRs) making it easy for farmers and their trusted advisors to gain insights, share data and create a crop’s system of record for every pass on the field.